Something Bitter and Sweet
by Asahina Banana
Summary: Iku, who is now married to Doujou had forgotten to buy him Valentine's chocolates. What would Doujou feel about it? (A short Valentine's day special!)


_**Disclaimers: I do not own any of these characters. They are rightfully owned by Hiro Arikawa, Sukumo Adabana and MediaWorks.**_

If no one had ever spoken to her, they would've thought she was a sleeping beauty. But unfortunately, whatever she said or did—was a complete opposite to those thoughts.

Iku Kasahara, or no—Iku _Doujou_ was fast asleep on a couch in the supervisors' lounge. Her short, blonde hair was all brushed to the side, in which some strands were hanging loosely from the couch. Her tall figure was too big for the couch; alas she was sleeping in a forced fetal position with her complete uniform still intact.

It was supposed to be a busy day in the Kantou Library, but the only place with a different ambience was the supervisors' lounge. Since anyone barely could take a break and rest, hence it was always empty.

As Iku continued on snoozing, loud footsteps were heard across the room. All of a sudden those footsteps stopped abruptly, but were resumed with the sound of a door slamming open.

"Iku! Wake up!" A short, dark-haired man yelled at the top of his lungs. "Iku! How long are you going to sleep?!"

Iku's whole body did not flinch even a single bit, despite all that rowdiness. With a vexed expression, the man stomped towards the sleeping woman and started to violently shake her body.

"Iku, I beg you for the love of all gods, wake up!"

Still, there was no response at all.

The man furrowed his brows and led out a sigh. He then bent down and whispered to her ear, "The cafeteria is serving braised pork today."

"PORK?!" Iku screamed on the top of her lungs, and jumped down from the couch. "WHERE'S THE PORK?"

"Welcome back to life, you glutton." The man snapped, crossing his arms. "How long do you intend to sleep here, huh? At least go home first, you dork!"

Iku's expression went blank for a few seconds, before identifying the person talking to her. She jolted backwards and exclaimed, "Woah! Instructor Doujou! I'm sorry, I was too tired after last night's duty and ended up falling asleep here…"

"Well, that's expected from you. And don't call me Instructor Doujou again!" Doujou said, ruffling his hair. On his left ring finger, everyone could see it was no longer a bare one.

"I-I'm sorry… I guess I'll head home now, Ins—I mean, Atsushi-san." Iku apologized, and hung her head. As she was about to leave, Doujou suddenly grabbed her hand and asked,

"Iku, do you remember what day it is?"

"No, is it our early payday?" Iku answered and shrugged with a blank look.

Doujou had this grimaced look in his face before releasing his hand from hers. He then replied, "Never mind. Just go home and rest already, Iku. Don't catch a cold."

"Alright! Idiots can't really catch cold, you know!"

When Iku headed outside the library, the sky was already painted bright orange and a lot of people in uniforms were walking towards the bus stations.

"Just how long did I sleep…" Iku asked herself, feeling puzzled. She remembered that she had a case to attend to until 4 a.m. in the morning, which was supposed to be an extremely rare occasion.

As she strode casually along the road, she passed by a supermarket. The display was decorated with vibrant pink colours and hearts, plus there were a lot of chocolates stacked inside.

"Wait… Don't tell me… EEH?! IT'S VALENTINE'S DAY?!" Iku yelled in surprised, and cursed herself on how forgetful she was. Without a second thought, she immediately dashed inside the supermarket and grabbed a few chocolates from the nearest shelf. She was about to pay for it, but she forgot one crucial thing. It was also the main reason why she couldn't take the bus home for the past 3 days.

Iku was dead broke this month. Last week, she was eating in an expensive Italian restaurant for lunch with Shibasaki and bought a new sofa for her house.

"Are you kidding me? Why does it have to be today out of all days…" She muttered to herself, and reluctantly placed the chocolates back on the shelves. With a heart filled with guilt, she slowly dragged herself home—which should be around 40 minutes away by foot.

When she finally arrived home, the sky was already dark and the streets were only lit with a few lamp posts. Her neighbourhood was quite far from the city centre, so she wouldn't expect anyone to roam the streets at night. Not even an animal would do that.

"I'm home…" She called out weakly, as she opened the door using a combination of numbers. Surprisingly—the house was already well lit, and that could only mean one thing.

"Welcome home. You're really late, you jerk." Doujou greeted her from the kitchen. "There are some leftovers from yesterday's take-out; they're on the table already."

"Thanks…" Iku went straight to the dining table, which was directly besides the kitchen. "Oh, it looks delicious…"

Doujou frowned and slowly put the kitchen utensils away. _Something's definitely off, yep._

"Iku, what's wrong?" He asked, and sat next to Iku.

"Nothing…" She replied and shook her head, slowly dragging a plate of soup towards her. When she was about to eat a mouthful of them, Doujou forcefully pushed down her hands and looked straight at her dark-coloured eyes.

"Seriously, something's really off. I don't recognize this kind of wife."

Iku averted her gaze away from him and her face blushed red. As she closed her eyes, she yelled, "I'm sorry! I forgot to give you Valentine's chocolates this year! I'm really, really sorry for being a bad partner!"

"Huh?!"

"You were expecting it, right?" Iku's voice came out wavered, and tears began trickling down her face. "That's why earlier you looked so…"

"Hold it. Stop talking." Doujou interrupted sharply and locked her eyes on her, "You want to know the truth? I actually was. But that's not the case, because that's not the most important thing."

"Eeeh…?"

Silently, Doujou took out his cell phone and placed it in Iku's hands. He then said, "Look at that phone. What do you see?"

Iku wiped her tears and replied with a puzzled look, "Uh… a black screen?"

"Look closely, you fool."

"Ummm…. Oh! It's a reflection of me!" She answered with a smile. "Oh, it's just my silly face, heheh…"

"It's not just your face, you stupid girl." Doujou snapped, and look away. "It's… Well… Uhh…"

"What? You're really confusing me!"

"It's the best Valentine's gift I have ever got, you stupid girl!"

"…hah…." Iku paused for a few seconds, before realizing what he really meant.

"HAH?! EEHHH-!"

-THE END-

_**Author's Comments**_

I had to do something for Valentine this year. Weeell I've been single for my whole life (so sad orz) but what better way is to celebrate than eating chocolates from friends and writing about my favourite OTP ever? HAHAHA well I guess this is to all of you singles out there, cheers!


End file.
